Expertise in Thyroid Surgery
Our entire thyroid team of surgeons, nurses and operating room techs have dedicated their careers to caring for patients with thyroid disease and thyroid cancer.
Personalized Thyroid Surgery Care
Thyroid nodules, goiters and cancers are extremely variable. The Hospital for Endocrine Surgery offers patients multiple treatment options and makes recommendations based on each patient’s needs. We offer both traditional thyroid surgery, and scarless, robotic thyroid surgery. This assures that our patients have the opportunity to receive the correct surgery based on their situation. An expert analysis of the thyroid and neck lymph nodes allows our highly experienced thyroid team to consult with you about your best options for treatment.
What are Thyroid Nodules?
Thyroid nodules are lumps or growths within the thyroid gland. Thyroid nodules are fairly common, occurring in more than half of people by the time they are 50 years of age. Thyroid nodules are more common in women, and increase in prevalence with age. By the time a woman is 25 years of age, she has a 15% chance of having a thyroid nodule over 1cm. By the time she is 50 years of age, she has a greater than 60% chance of having a significant thyroid tumor that needs examined and/or biopsied. The rates for thyroid nodules in men are about 5-10% lower than women.
Five Types of Thyroid Cancer
There are five types of thyroid cancer and all have surgery as the primary means of treatment. Most thyroid cancers are treatable when the appropriate amount of the thyroid gland and any potentially cancerous lymph nodes are removed. This includes Papillary thyroid cancer, Follicular thyroid cancer, and Hurthle Cell thyroid cancers. Numerous scientific publications have shown that surgeons who perform thyroid surgery weekly, or even daily, have much higher success rates for thyroid cancer.
Two types of thyroid cancers are more dangerous and require a very high degree of expertise. This includes Medullary thyroid cancer and Anaplastic thyroid cancer.
Thyroid Ultrasound for Nodules and Cancers
At the Hospital for Endocrine Surgery, we have experienced ultrasound techs who perform thyroid ultrasound exclusively. During your thyroid ultrasound, we "map" your thyroid and neck lymph nodes creating a very detailed view of your nodule and any potential for thyroid cancer in the thyroid or lymph nodes.
Any thyroid nodule that is suspicious for thyroid cancer will receive a needle biopsy of the nodule (or nodules). This is done in the ultrasound suite with local anesthesia. Our fellowship trained pathologists typically return a thyroid biopsy result in under one hour — allowing us to provide our patients with a quick and thorough diagnosis. This is dramatically different than the 1-2 week turnaround time patients experience at some hospitals and centers.
Robotic and Scarless Thyroid Surgery
Removing a thyroid nodule or cancer without making a neck scar is a relatively new technique. By placing small incisions under the arms, the surgeon can remove thyroid glands, goiters, and many thyroid cancers without a neck scar of any kind. This very advanced operation is only offered at a few hospitals in the United States. Please learn more by checking out our Robotic Scarless Thyroid Surgery page.